In a significant legal move, Chinese officials have officially charged 18 leaders of a prominent underground church, paving the way for their prosecution. These individuals could face prison sentences of up to three years.

Reports from Reuters, which cited a Christian NGO advocate, revealed that the arrests took place in mid-October. Nearly 30 pastors and staff members from the Zion Church were detained, marking the most extensive crackdown on Chinese Christians in the past seven years.

ChinaAid, a nonprofit organization focused on Christian human rights, issued a statement condemning the arrests as being based on “politically motivated charges.”

“These pastors and co-workers are being unjustly treated as criminals simply because they were committed to leading a large, legally unregistered church that chose not to submit to the Chinese Communist Party’s control and surveillance,” the statement declared.

In an image captured on April 6, 2008, Christians are seen attending a house church service at Zion Church in Beijing, China. (Photo by Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Dr. Bob Fu, the founder and president of ChinaAid, described the arrests as a “chilling milestone in the Chinese Communist Party’s aggressive campaign against Christianity in China.”

“Their only ‘crime’ is preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, shepherding God’s flock, and refusing to turn Christ’s church into a propaganda tool of the Communist Party,” he added. “By turning pastors into political prisoners, the CCP is not only persecuting these individuals and their families—it is sending a warning to every independent church in China: submit to Party control or face destruction.”

Jin Mingri, head pastor of the Zion Church, poses in Beijing on Sept. 12, 2018, days after officials shut down one of China’s largest underground Protestant churches. (Fred Dufour/AFP via Getty Images)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio denounced the detentions of the Zion Church members in October and asked the Chinese government to release them. 

Open Doors, an international organization that supports persecuted believers, estimates there are more than 96 million Christians in China.